


drowning is an awful way to die, but a great way to kill

by blackholenipples



Category: Naruto
Genre: Alternate Universe - Pirates of the Caribbean Fusion, F/F, Lesbians, i just wanted to practise writing fight scenes because I'm bad at it, slight one sided hashimada if that bothers you, tobirama just wants his happily ever after, touka just wants her crew to be prosperous and happy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-01
Updated: 2018-01-30
Packaged: 2019-01-28 03:38:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 4
Words: 6,357
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12597268
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/blackholenipples/pseuds/blackholenipples
Summary: In which there is gratuitous violence and lesbian pirates.





	1. Prologue - The Brethren Court

**Author's Note:**

> PIRATES  
> LESBIAN PIRATES  
> TOUKA IS A LESBIAN PIRATE
> 
> Honestly, if that isn't enough to make you want to attempt to read this mess, you shouldn't attempt to read this utter clusterfuck of a plot bunny gone haywire.

“I propose a vote, then.” Hashirama Senju glares down some of the most powerful men and women in the world. “Since we are unable to agree on a course of action among ourselves, we need to elect a final voice. We need a king.”

Tōka’s pretty sure all of the eye rolling in the room could cause a minor earthquake.

“We all just vote for ourselves every time,” Kushina scoffs at him.

Tōka’s opening her mouth to agree when a smooth voice cuts her off.

“I second the notion,” says Orochimaru. His voice sends a shiver down her spine.

“It may prove… enlightening.” He says with an entirely boneless shrug when every eye in the room turns to him.

Jiraiya snorts from his spot at his captain’s left hand.

THUNK

A heavy suna-style battle fan slams on the old oak table.

The fan’s owner levels a flat look at the gathered pirates.

“Then we start this useless endeavour. We have wasted too much time as is. I vote for Temari Windsinger.” Temari says from the seat on Tōka’s left.

Tōka shrugs. “Tōka Senju.”

“Kushina.” it sounds like a bite, and Tōka doesn’t have to turn to know that her grin is all sharp teeth and a promise of mischief.

“A,” A rumbles. Big surprise there.

“Mei Terumi.” A stunning woman says with a flip of her long dark hair. Absently, Tōka wonders when she’d taken over from Yagura.

“Konan.” Says the eerie blue-haired captain. She has yet to blink during the meeting. It’s been three hours.

“Orochimaru.” The voice is a slithery whisper. Tōka makes a face. From over Orochimaru’s right shoulder, Tsunade winks at her. Brat.

Onoki grunts, because he’s a contrary old asshole.

“Onoki votes for Onoki.” His granddaughter says, exasperated, from his left.

“Tōka Senju.” Hashirama says brightly.

There’s complete silence around the table for a second.

Then the shouting erupts.

Huh. Tōka had been aware of Hashirama’s propensity for acting without deeper thought in the face of consequences he can’t handle. But. This is just dumb. There’s a damn good reason she’s never seconded another person at one of these meetings, even though she’s well aware that both Konan and Temari would do fine as King.

Like all sailors, they operate on a balance. At the crest of the wave, always fighting to keep from going under. This will stabilize them, but it may also kill them.

She looks over her shoulder to her first mate, and sure enough, Tobirama’s staring slack-jawed at his brother. Tōka grins.

It may prove to be the end of piracy as they know it, but that won’t stop her from using this.

She clears her throat.

It does nothing against the shouting match, but she’d expected that.

“Here’s what we know.” She has Temari’s attention, and Orochimaru’s. The rest of the captains are brawling in a corner. It doesn’t make a difference, their seconds are all here.

“There are two enemies approaching. Madara and his crew have somehow convinced the Royal Navy that this is their opportunity to eradicate piracy once and for all. We all know the caliber of soldier they field is…” She grimaces and there are a few chuckles from the men and women gathered around her. Onoki, the old windbag, has cut out of the fight and drifted back to the table. So has Konan, who’s never been much for senseless violence.

“But they have a thousand ships, all well-equipped. We may be more skilled, but we will run out of bullets. We will be forced to fight dozens. Their bodies will clog up our decks and trip up our people.” Mei’s back.

“And there’s more. As unskilled as the navy’s men may be, Madara’s are not.”

A has a bleeding lip, but no other signs of damage.

Tōka looks all six of them in the eye, one by one.

“Some among us would hope to run. We cannot afford to.

Madara has made a deal with the three-tailed god. Isobu and his host gave him and his crew functional immortality seven years ago. Now that we have proven ourselves to be his enemies, he will hunt us down.”

Kushina and Hashirama are back. She’s healthy as ever, but he has some very painful looking bruises all over his face and arms. It looks like they left him in fighting form though. Good.

“You cannot kill them. They can, however be slowed.

Push them into the ocean. But do not, for any reason, enter the water and expect to survive.” she exhales slowly.  

“Seven years ago, Madara stole the body of the nine tailed goddess.” There’s wide eyes all around the table at the revelation and Kushina looks angrier than Tōka’s ever seen her. She expected disbelief, but there isn’t any. Only shock, rage and fear.

“She wants him dead. Today, the ocean is a friend to no human. Use it, but be sure your crews understand that the water is a death sentence.”

She meets the eyes of every person in the room. Nine captains of the nine largest pirate fleets in the world and their second and thirds-in-command. “Be wary, be fierce and stay alive. Stand strong and survive.”

“Before you go,” Tōka says. “You all have something I need. As King, I demand the return of your pieces of eight. Meeting adjourned.”

Seven of nine headbands drop to the table as the captains leave the table. Each one has a slim plate of silver sewn into the cloth. Tōka keeps hers and raises an eyebrow at Hashirama. That he is the holdout is unsurprising. As a sorceress, Kushina may have an idea of what they do, but he’s the only other person at the table that knows for certain what they contain.

“It’s on my ship.” He’s lying, but she’ll deal with it later. Tōka nods.

“Time to go.” She says.


	2. Chapter 2

Tōka slides her sword out of a man's chest and looks up in surprise. There's less carnage surrounding her than expected. Far less. There’s the sounds of swords clanging in a chorus through the air and the slick sounds of metal hitting flesh, of course. But there’s no low, thudding booms from her cannons or bombs. There’s no vengeful shrieking that happens whenever they lose a member of the crew. Only the falling rush of rain and screaming of the wind. Itama, Hiruzen and Koharu have the lower deck effectively under control. As much as a bloodbath of this scale can ever be controlled, anyhow.

She does a quick scan of her surroundings and runs for the steps, because she’s pretty sure there was a group of British soldiers headed up to the quarterdeck to disable the steering. With the Fox Goddess raging in the waters around them, Tōka having no control over her ship is a good way to kill her crew. She makes it through the men on the stairs with some fancy sword work and a lot of gratuitous kicking. The rain-slick stairs are treacherous for those who don't spend hours practicing on the deck daily regardless of weather.

The quarterdeck definitely hosts the worst of the fighting. Tobirama and his long-time lover Kagami are alone and surrounded by the blue and gold jackets of the royal navy. Typical Tobi, really.

“Tōka.” She slices one man in half and swings around to stick her sword in the gut of another before she turns to reply to her cousin.

“What,” She snaps, because favorite relative or no, if Tobirama gets her killed by distracting her in the middle of a fight she will murder him.

Tobirama opens his mouth, but he’s quickly silenced by a three-man attack on his person.

“Marry us. This is your ship and we may not have another chance.” Kagami manages while beheading two of Tobirama’s trio of attackers and tripping the last into the range of one of his knives.

Idiots.

They have truly the most awful timing she’s ever encountered. Tōka hopes the glare she levels at the both of them communicates as much.

Tobi just looks at her. Puppy dog eyes out and white hair matted with blood. She can’t even discern his scarlet witch-marks from the rest of the blood covering his face.

Tōka shakes her head and grins. She’ll do it, of course. If only for the sake of holding it over Hashirama’s head forever.

“Dearly beheaded.” She starts, ignoring the Freudian slip as she kicks some guy off of her sword into the mayhem below.

“We are—”

Half-turns and shoots three coming up the stairs towards them.

“—gathered to celebrate the union of these two lovebirds—”

Tobirama springboards off of Kagami’s back into a pile of four men, and promptly cuts them all to pieces.

“—because it’s my goddamn ship and I say so.”

She gets distracted killing things for a few seconds before Tobi comes back into her line of sight over the shoulder of a man who has yet to realize that he’s as good as dead.

“Do you take this man as yours until the seas run dry and the wind fails to sing?” She asks. And these are the only ritual words in a pirate’s wedding, but they are binding past death and until the end of time.

“I do.” There’s no hesitation in Tobirama’s voice and more emotion than she’s ever heard him use.

She spins. “I do.” Says Kagami desperately, as he steps over the corpse of a fallen comrade to gather Tobirama in his arms.

She’s never given any thought to the rumors about Kagami’s father, but in this moment, she wonders if he may, in fact, be one of the Uchiha he often fights so fiercely. There’s a fever and focus to his eyes that she’s never seen in anyone outside of that clan, and the reflection of blood and fire give his eyes a scarlet glow.

“Than kiss and be wed.” She says, choosing to ignore it for now. She leaves them to it and, instead of bearing witness, tackles the last of the enemy on their deck over the railing back first onto the landing below.

The snapping sound his spine makes as it hits the deck is animalistically satisfying. She stands, unharmed. There’s none of the enemy left alive on her ship at all, but they’re at the outer edge of this fight and the battle is raging on every vessel nearby. They’ll get another wave of enemy soldiers to dismember soon enough.

She stands and reloads her gun and shoves it back into the holster at her hip. She heads over to where Koharu is watching Kawarama pick through a fallen foe’s pockets. He pulls out two boxes of ammo and leaves everything else. Tōka feels a vicious glimmer of pride to see even the youngest of her crew collecting weapons from the dead and leaving the pleasure of plunder for when they have the luxury of time.

She places a hand on Koharu’s shoulder. Her navigator is the third most level-headed person on the ship and thus her third-in-command.

The other hand gives her cutlass a firm flick. Something squishy falls to the deck, as does the worst of the blood. She’s hit enough bone today that she’ll have to sit down with a whetstone for a few hours at some point, but for now there’s work to be done.

She’s got eight slim pieces of metal tucked into a pouch at her waist, and the ninth will spell an end to at least a part of the mayhem and death that surround her people today.

“Tobi’s busy. You're in charge until the honeymoon’s over.” She says and Koharu nods. “When he gets down, tell him that he and Kagami are to get me Madara’s heart.”

She’s got work to do.

Tōka grabs a rope and Koharu cuts her free at her signal. She swings through the air to land feet-first on the deck of the nearest vessel. The next ship over isn’t one of theirs. Pity. It takes an agonizingly long few minutes to cut her way through to the other side and leap over.

She lands with a half-sigh of relief. She does know this ship. _Foxfire_ is Kushina’s vessel. She doesn’t see the flaming kitsune spirit that follows the Japanese witch-captain around, but she does see the lightning-quick flash of blond that is her first mate locked in combat with a half dozen navy jackets. Minato is the only person she knows who’s quicker than Tobirama in the heat of battle. He’s a yellow flash that flows around enemies in a way that isn’t entirely human. Genma is a familiar sight at his back, twin pistols up and dropping a man with every shot. She cuts her way to them.

“Highness,” Minato says with a hint of attitude and ghost of a laugh in his voice. He slinks through a pair with swords ready to cut him down and knifes one in the back. The other goes down with a bullet between the eyes. Tōka laughs in delight. If she respected Kushina an ounce less, she’d have stolen both men away to be a part of her crew years ago.

“Looking for my cousin.” She cuts off the arm of a man with a pistol aimed at Genma. She slices his throat for good measure, since there’s no point wasting bullets on a man already maimed. “Hashirama’s got something I need.” She drops to avoid the sword strike trying to take off her head. Spins and swings a leg around. The man goes down and she grabs the gun next to her knee. It slides free from the hand she’d severed earlier. She shoots him and twists. Six shots from her gun and twelve from Genma’s give Minato enough breathing room to respond.

He points. She tosses the now-empty gun onto the deck. Kushina’s people will keep it after the fight if they have ammunition that fits. _The Hidden Leaf_ is three boats over, cannons out and locked into battle with The Flying Dutchman. Thankfully, it’s on this side of the growing whirlpool. She nods her thanks and takes off swinging.

She exits the ship to the sound of Genma’s grumbles. “I know you said she’s human, but that kind of comfort in flight isn’t natural.”

She makes it over to _The Hidden Leaf_ without injury.

The ship is in the middle of the storm. There is no eye of calm. It’s out of the rain, but the entire ship is tilting starboard. Circling around the center of the massive whirlpool. Every so often a cannonball hits and they all sway.

It takes three desperate seconds to trade in her sea legs for something that will keep her up and fighting. A wild-haired child almost takes her head off. He’s quick. And he has a sidestep that carries him faster than her eyes can keep up. He slashes and lunges with intent to kill.

She's barely dodging. She spars with the second quickest swordsman on the ocean daily. Yet, it's taking all her skill and reflex just to stay in this battle. His eyes glow red with a fierce desperation.

He lunges. She dodges, but the boy slices through her coat into the side of her ribcage. A long, shallow slice. That'll be a pain in the ass later. She grimaces.

The ship shakes and he takes a step back. It takes him two steps to find his balance again. Tōka doesn't lose hers.

She takes advantage. Grabs his collar and throws.

He may be the most dangerous fighter she's faced today, but he weighs as little as the child he appears to be. He goes over the railing.

There's no time to check and ensure he won't come back.

She fights her way through a few navy officers, but she finds another Uchiha before she finds Hashirama.

He's even younger than the last one.  Aesthetically, he really puts the dying in undying.  The bags under his eyes sink into lines that cut down his cheeks. Probably hasn't slept in all six or so years of his life.

The kid is quick, but she's faster. Tōka slices his arm off just above the elbow. She knows better than to relax. And sure enough, it doesn't even phase him. There's no blood, and the skin immediately starts knitting together. He'll have his arm back in a matter of minutes. She feints left and lunges forward to his unprotected right, pressing the advantage, but her sword slides right through him and the boy disappears like mist.

Instinct has her diving left and she feels a rush of air right above the cut that the other boy gave her earlier. She rolls through and comes up on her feet a heartbeat later.

“Shit.” She mutters and spins, closing her eyes.

He’s behind her. Somewhere.

Usually, her hearing is good enough to offset visual illusionary magics. But she can barely hear anything over the clash of swords and rushing ocean.

She's pretty much fucked. She opens her eyes and lunges. Relying on instinct will keep her alive for a time, but there isn't enough battle experience in the world to compensate for this.

Tōka is entirely on the defensive as she springs up and back, over one of the marine officers on the ship. He goes down, cut entirely in half. She grabs another one of them and whirls herself around him. This one gets a bullet in the shoulder.

A sharp whistle cuts through the air, loud enough that she wants to clap her hands over her ears.

A huge white shape flies through the air and lands, snarling. A dog twice her height pins a boy-shaped patch of air to the deck and his illusion shatters. The dog bites through his neck and tosses it towards a woman with wild brown hair and blood covering inch-long claws where her nails should be. She kicks it out of the air and long black hair flutters in the wind. The head flies over the ship and into the water.

The dog perks up and bounces over to the woman like a harmless puppy.

Tōka grabs the squirming corpse and spins into a toss. She sends it flying in the opposite direction of its head.

The brunette sends a feral grin her way and Tōka winks back. If they live through this, she should collect on the promise in that smile. She already knows she won’t.

Tōka’s intimacy issues aside, Hashirama is right there. Tōka follows her savior’s example and slices his adversary’s head clean off. She drop kicks it into the water before it can hit the ground. Hashirama does something and the deck under her feet erupts to spring her away. A tree stands where the woman had been.

“Looks like your green thumb evolved.” Tōka grins and shakes her head. Trust Hashirama to go and get plant magic while he's plundering. And worse, it looks like Moutkon.

“Not that I don't appreciate the assist, but why aren't you with your crew?”

Her grin disappears. She raises an eyebrow and he winces. He licks his lips and his face falls further.

“Tōka. Please.” He’s covered in soot and splinters and his eyes are wide with fear. “Madara is foolish and arrogant and wasteful in his pursuit of eternity. But he does not deserve this. The Lady Mito will kill us all.”

Tōka turns to face the whirlpool about to suck them into their death. She almost feels sorry for Hashirama and his glass heart, but she really doesn’t care. She would rather live through the day.

“She’ll kill us all in this form Hashirama. If we return her autonomy, at least she will see reason enough to kill him first.” She can see him breaking at her words, but Hashirama’s heart hasn’t been her priority since he left her crew for the love of a madman and the respect of ever-warring strangers. “Besides. You don’t get a say. I am your king and I demand you give me the leaf.”

Hashirama’s face tightens. His hand drifts down to shield a pouch at his waist. He’s a legendary fighter, and now he wields a magic strong enough to conquer entire countries. But she’s old. Pirates die young. Especially captains. Apart from Onoki, she's got more experience than anyone else around. And she has yet to lose any of her speed or skill to age.

There’s a flash of silver, a squirt of blood, and a severed hand drops to the deck. Tōka catches the cut pouch before he can move and turns away.

She’s out of his reach and up to the riggings before Hashirama processes the injury. It’s the price he should have paid for stealing her ship seven years ago, but she knows he never expected to have her extract the blood toll.

Stupid of him. He may be blood, but he’s no longer crew.

She no longer has any allegiance to a fool and a thief. She chose to spare his life only because her shipmates harbour affection for the man.

She climbs.

The ship is tilting, and fighting with _The Flying Dutchman_ across the heart of the whirlpool. A cannon impacts the hull below her and almost causes Tōka to lose her grip. In these conditions, falling in is a death sentence.

Time to change the odds.

She locks one elbow into the rope nearest her head and fumbles at her waist. She’d held on to the plate Hashirama was tasked to protect, and now it’s brethren lie with it. Each has a single stylised carving; Leaf, Mist, Cloud, Rock, Sand, Rain, Sound, Waterfall and Whirlpool. Each one holds a ninth of the body of a goddess that she unwittingly helped Madara steal and seal away seven years ago.  

She opens her hand, and she sees them fall into the water in slow motion.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It'll probably be another week or two before I can get another chapter of this up. I have midterms until the ninth, and there's a longer miraculous fic that's currently my priority. 
> 
> That being said, i hope you have fun reading. Because I certainly had a good time writing this.


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> there was initially a plan for this story, but i've forgotten it. shorter than i wanted, but words are not my friend this month apparently.

The sea stills. The storm stops all at once.

Golden flames erupt on the surface of the water. They blaze high and hot and then smaller and brighter. She may go blind, but Tōka doesn’t so much as consider turning her eyes away from the rebirth of her favourite god. The light keeps condensing until it vaguely resembles the shape a woman.

The golden being takes a step over the water and the steam that erupts at her feet cools into robes of snowy white. As she walks, light sinks into her skin and dulls, contained into nothing more than a golden glow emanating from flawless skin. Her hair stays glowing, but instead of gold, it is the red of molten lava, pooling at her shoulders and flowing down her back.

Tōka has never been beholden to a pretty face. Appreciative, yes. But she’s seen the power they often hide. She’s had reason to meet four of this world’s nine gods. Mito Uzumaki had been the first, but every time, their beauty is enough to stun even her.

She’d forgotten how much Mito eclipses her siblings.

But when the goddess opens eyes the green as the darkest depths of the ocean, Tōka remembers. She remembers watching from the bar as the most beautiful woman in the world walked into a pirate’s pub in the vicious pit that is Tortuga. She remembers easy graceful movements and long limbs elegant on the rough sheets in the captain’s cabin. Remembers an affair that lasted two terribly short years and the happiest years of her life.

But she also remembers waking up the morning of her twenty-fourth birthday betrayed and alone. Remembers Madara, fleeing across the ocean and Hashirama’s guilty explanations of what he’d allowed his lover to do.

She remembers forgiveness she should never have given.

Mito’s eyes fall on her and Tōka finds that she can no longer breathe.

She’s expressionless. Tōka has no idea if she’s about to die. She has no idea what Mito knows and no idea how much gloating Madara had done before sealing her.

Every step Mito takes across perfectly still water resonates with a beat of Tōka’s heart. The world is slowed around her. There’s vines and branches erupting from the ship below her, in an aborted effort to grab the pieces before they hit the water. Now they’re headed up, weaving through the riggings towards her.

Mito gets there first. Gravity, of course, has no control over a God.

Everything seems to slow as Mito walks the last couple of steps towards her. There's no stopping until warm arms are wrapped around her back and a head full of fiery hair is tucked into the crook of Tōka’s neck.

Tōka reacts without conscious thought. Her arms wrap around Mito’s head and her shoulders and she clings with all of the strength she has. Tears are flowing down her face and she can't bear to close her eyes and risk waking up.

There's a suspicious heat enveloping them and she suspects that either Hashirama’s ship or his vines are on fire.

They stand there, clinging even when the ropes holding her up crumble into ashes.

 

(The only magic Tōka's ever called hers is the ability to know when her people die.

Mito’s in her arms again and her crew is alive. The rest of the world can damn well burn for all she cares.)

 

The pommel of a knife hits her in the back of her head.

Tōka is going to kill that brat.

“OI” Kagami’s shout is easily discernible now that all of the fighters on the ship have frozen in terror.

“I know you want to get laid, but we found the asshole and you should kill him first.” Tobirama drawls.

Tōka opens her eyes. Mito’s serene gaze is shifting. She raises a perfect eyebrow and her smile turns sharp.

“Madara,” Tōka gasps,

Mito’s sharp grin turns downright evil. It hits Tōka like a ton of bricks.

“You already know.”

She laughs. Not the pretty, musical laugh Tōka’s so fond of, but low, dangerous sound that sends all of the blood in her body rushing downwards.

“Darling,” she drawls, and that’s not Mito, it’s Kurama. “We are the god of destruction and you are our consort. Your fury and your rage delights us.”

“Give me my girlfriend back, you giant fuzzball and I’ll let you watch me tear him into itty bitty little pieces?” She offers.

Kurama laughs again and those pretty green eyes glow for a second. Mito smiles at her and they start to fall.

Mito lands gracefully on the deck beside Tobi and Kagami, one arm around Tōka’s waist. They are, of course surrounded by a mixture of Hashirama’s people and Madara’s.

Tobirama grins at her.

“Guess who’s dumb enough to keep his heart aboard his ship?”

“No,” Tōka snorts.

Kagami looks her dead in the eyes, and she almost chokes. Holy shit. Madara is officially the dumbest walking dead man she’s ever encountered.

An Uchiha soldier growls.

They attack.

Before she can so much as get her sword out, there’s a red-gold bubble of magic blocking them off. Mito’s skin is hot against her waist.

With a lazy flick of her hand, the shield swirls out into spirals of flame that goes after the Uchiha and British soldiers with a vengeance and nine giant fox’s tails grow out of the small of her back.  

Mito grins at her, and one of her tails sweeps a dozen of the enemy into the water.

Tōka’s in love.

Mito pulls her to the edge of the ship and keeps walking. A road of red-gold light builds itself in front of her feet as she walks ten feet above the ocean towards _The Flying Dutchman._


	4. Chapter 4

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me: just write a Pirates of the Caribbean rip-off so that you can practice your fight scenes  
> Tōka: m u r d e r

They walk into an invisible wall right before they make it aboard.

A pretty little girl walks straight out of the wood into the air. Her eyes and hair are an unobtrusive brown. She's wearing a plain black shirt and loose pants. There's witch marks across her cheeks. Two horizontal stripes, each one a shifting kaleidoscope of purple-blue-green-yellow-black; like a bruise that goes down to bone. Based on appearances, she could be a witch from any of the pirate crews.

But no regular witch-child’s wards would stop the raging red-gold of Mito’s conjured firestorm. Let alone be able to stop Mito herself in her tracks.

Her eyes flash and darken from a bright hazel to a murky green-black.

“Welcome back.” She says to Mito, ignoring the rest of them.

“Isobu. New host?”

The god smiles. “Rin Nohara. She has more power than any other I’ve taken. More morals too.”

Her eyes lighten up and the little girl smiles genially at them.

“I am death.” She says mildly. “Vengeance and duty are my servants. They will aid you in this task, provided you are willing to pay the price.”

Tōka has a bad feeling about the price.

“Madara made a deal with my predecessor. Pirates who die on the seas must be taken care of by pirates. If you kill him, you have to replace him.”

Mito growls.

“I am aware of your claim sister,” she shrugs, “and thus she is forewarned.” She fades out of sight to be replaced by two boys in simple black shirts.

“This is Kakashi. I am Obito. We’ll hold off as many of my family as we can.” One of the boys says. They’re young enough looking that Tōka’s heart aches. She winces.

The other boy looks her dead in the eyes. “Rin is ours. She wants to help you. Both of us want Madara dead, but only a human can kill him. Let us help.”

Tōka nods. The boys may even be as young as they look, but they both bear scars of loss and the calluses of soldiers on their hands.

 

She steps forwards. They fall behind her.

There’s a fog on the deck. Mito places a hand on her shoulder.

“This is where we part. I need to be able to block what they come up with. I can take out personal magics while I’m at it, so don’t worry about illusions.”

The fog lifts. The smell of brimstone wafts across the deck in its place.

Tōka doesn’t nod. She doesn’t stop.

A cry of fury comes from her left, but Tobirama intercepts. Izuna had been his friend, once upon a time. It’s only fitting that they are adversaries now.

Kakashi and Obito peel off like shadows. Twin whirlwinds of black cloth and silver steel, they cut through the few Uchiha that remain on deck like the spirits of death that they are.

Madara is lounging on the stairs. Watching her approach without emotion.

“Heart,” she murmurs and Kagami slips away.

 

Madara is a swordsman first and a witch second. She’s not all that excited to see how much he’s improved in seven years of being the most feared bogeyman on the ocean. If Mito can’t keep his magic down, Tōka will likely end up very dead very soon.

She rushes him anyway.

Madara is up in time to block her first overhead strike. Pity.

She grins at him, baring teeth.

He laughs in her face and retreats a step. She braces. He circles slowly and she matches him step for step.

He feints and she sidesteps. Flows through and he almost hits her injured side before she gets her sword up. The movement stings like a whip strike into an already aching wound.

She swears. His mouth curls into a slow smile.

Objectively, Madara’s not a bad looking man. Especially if you ignore the creepy red eyes and the absolute mess he calls hair. Pity he’s the actual devil.

She shakes a lock of sodden hair out of her eyes and braces herself.

Madara attacks. He comes in fast and furious with a punishing series of blows. She doesn’t know his patterns anymore; it’s almost all she can do to keep up. He’s hitting towards her bad side more often than not and she can barely breathe through the fire in her abdomen every time she blocks a strike to the left.

A shadow peels out of the woodwork behind him and Obito engages. His silver-tipped polearm whistles through the air with a clear ding of bells every time he swings despite the noise all around them. He moves like a goddamn ghost and Madara can’t seem to connect. Tōka takes the respite given and gives herself four seconds to breathe.

She re-engages. Obito fights strangely and unlike anyone she’s ever trained with. He seems to know how to work around her, darting around and bleeding Madara whenever she manages to tie him up.

Together, they’ve managed to regain the advantage, but Madara is a legend for a reason. Tōka is injured and Obito’s about ten. She’s not sure how long they’ll be able to keep him occupied.

Madara kicks Obito in the chest and he flies back. In the moment it takes him to get up, Madara’s wound up for a devastating blow coming down towards her bad side from exactly the wrong angle. Tōka barely gets her sword up in time and –

Tōka’s shoulder fails.

Her arm collapses and she leaps back before Madara can take advantage.

Obito sweeps his polearm forwards to cut him off at the knees but Madara jumps overtop without breaking stride. Tōka scrambles back, but the deck is empty save for Tobirama and Izuna who are locked against each other in a perfect rivalry that could probably last decades without outside intervention. She’s not sure where Obito’s partner went.

As one eventually must on any ship, Tōka runs out of room.  

 

Madara falters.

Kagami’s got a bloody beating heart in a death grip and a dull silver knife in the other hand.

Madara looks like he can’t breathe.

 

“BROTHER!” the voice is Izuna’s, as is the sword that’s sticking out of the front of Kagami’s chest.

Blood spurts from his mouth and he slumps to the deck.

Tōka lunges towards him and the heart that’s rolling across the deck to her.

Madara roars, and she gets a hand around his heart.

 

He’s blocked. The kids have their weapons shoved into his abdomen and they’re holding him back by his guts.

Tōka meets Madara’s eyes across the ship and grabs a knife from her belt.

A cry echoes across the deck and Madara spins. Tobirama is breathing hard and covered in blood at the edge of the ship. Kagami is on the deck beside him. The lower half of Izuna’s body stands between them.

Tobirama Senju is hopelessly predictable once you get to know him. He will protect, he will support and he will adore those he claims as family. But his first instinct is to avenge. He takes a quick double step and with a flash of white and red, he and Madara are dancing across the deck in a series of near-lethal steps and swings.

As she watches, the unmoored legs tip over and land on the deck unceremoniously.

Izuna, the strongest Uchiha fighter apart from Madara himself is indisposed and will continue to be until he can pull his body back together. Considering the top half is probably in the water, it may take a while.

They’ve won. Tōka’s got Madara’s heart. His men are mostly trapped in the ocean’s arms and the last of the British Armada has been decimated by Mito’s firestorm.

 

Not without cost.

Kagami is on the edge of death.

Tōka can bring him back. There’s no time to ask, no time to warn either of her boys.

She’s at his side in seconds.

She places Madara’s heart in Kagami’s outstretched hand. The other she takes in one of her own.

Kakashi has disengaged Madara to bear witness. A spirit of death and duty, here to ensure the continuation of an endless responsibility Kagami will never be able to escape alive. The boy places a knife in their hands. It’s the same dull silver blade that he was holding earlier.  

Tōka wraps Kagami’s callused fingers around the hilt and guides the knife through the still-beating heart.

Obito is there with gentle hands pushing her out of the way. Rin materialises out of the ship itself and thrusts a glowing green hand straight through Kagami’s chest. She pulls out his heart and Kakashi pulls out a scroll. They do some kind of silent spell she doesn’t understand and the scroll glows green for an instant and they press his heart right into the paper.

Kagami sits up straight with a gasp.

Across the deck, Madara falls for the last time under Tobirama’s blade.

 

(Tōka looks over at Tobirama.

He’s bound to be thinking of a way to die so that he gets to stay with Kagami for the rest of their endless lives and ferry the dead and all of that ridiculousness.

Tōka sighs.

She’ll live. She’s got a good team, even though the loss of those two will limit their attack power for a while. Koharu is steady, solemn and talented. Good first mate material.

They’ll be okay.)

 

Tobirama, of course, comes running. By the time Kagami makes it to his feet, there’s a laughing pirate in his arms being spun around and around.

Like the gods themselves are smiling at the turn of events, the sun bursts out from behind the lingering clouds.

In the light, the Uchiha men all across the deck start to fade into the air. Already hard to hit, they’re turning intangible.

“It’s a new beginning. Letting his lingering ghosts pass on is something I can do now that Madara is dead.” Rin says to her with a nod before she and her boys disappear too.

In her place is an innocent-looking gold-edged scroll.

Tōka opens it, curious.

“Heart.” It reads.

By all rights, Kagami’s heart belongs to Tobirama.

Tōka’s a pirate.

These boys are her family and her friends.

But they’re not her crew anymore.

And Tōka Senju will use every tool in her arsenal to protect her crew until the day she dies.

She slips the scroll into her belt and walks towards the goddess she’s been dreaming of for the last seven years of her life.


End file.
